L.A.'s latest boutique

This might seem like a strange time to set up a buyout fund, but Ken Moelis appears to be moving along with his L.A.-based boutique firm, Moelis & Co. Tennille Tracy, a reporter with the newsletter Private Equity Analyst, posts that Moelis has raised more than $1 billion, just months after leaving UBS as the company's investment banking president. Old-timers know Moelis for his work at Drexel Burnham during the Milken days. The new fund will invest only in buyout deals being led by other firms, according to Tracy (not a bad strategy in these difficult times). And it's said to be a “pledge fund,” which means investors have the ability to opt out of certain deals. (Deal Journal)